"I don't want my boy to have radiotherapy because of the side effects. I still think Neon does not need it.

"It is dreadful, it is really awful."

Roberts sparked a nationwide police hunt earlier this month when she went into hiding with her son. She has since gone on British talk shows and argued that radiotherapy treatment would lower his IQ and possibly leave him infertile.

Roberts, a former DJ from Auckland, took her battle to the High Court over fears that radiotherapy on Neon's medulloblastoma tumour would "fry his brains".

Doctors argue that Neon could die within months without the treatment.

A High Court judgment was yesterday delayed after the judge said there had been "medical developments''.